Tuesday, May 21, 2013

"The Ward"

Read a great article in the Toronto Star yesterday highlighting the (largely forgotten) history of the downtown Toronto neighbourhood once called "The Ward"-- home to thousands of immigrants who arrived in the city between the 1890s and 1920s. This neighbourhood, which my work happens to be right in the heart of, was home to Toronto's first Chinatown and was even earlier a bustling-- if utterly impoverished-- multicultural community. John Lorinc of the Star asks: "How should the present-day city excavate and commemorate the heritage of this ghost neighbourhood and its critical role in the shaping of modern Toronto?" An important and timely question as heritage buildings are jeopardized by the unprecedented amount of development happening in the downtown core right now. FYI: "The Ward" was demolished in the 1950s to make way for Nathan Phillips Square, New City Hall and hospital row on University Avenue.

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About Me

Tara Bursey is an interdisciplinary artist, independant curator and arts worker. She has worked as Curatorial Assistant at the Textile Museum of Canada and Artscape Youngplace, and in a curatorial capacity for the City of Hamilton Tourism and Culture Division, Culture for Kids in the Arts, Gallery 1313, the Ontario Crafts Council and the Art Gallery of Hamilton Design Annex. She sits on the Curatorial Committee of the James Street Supercrawl. Her artwork has been exhibited across Canada as well as in Copenhagen, Berlin and Eye, Suffolk, UK. She lives and works in Hamilton, Ontario, where she coordinates programs and exhibitions at the Workers Arts & Heritage Centre.